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Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

Question: Was the desire for knowledge once an obstacle for the development of Kabbalah?

Answer: Thirst for knowledge pushed aside striving to attain the upper world and people began to engage in comprehending the material world. Since the middle of the 17th century there was interest in science and art and then the technological revolution occurred. This eclipsed humanity’s striving for spiritual knowledge.

If a person has interesting possibilities of revealing the secrets of nature of this world and attaining them, then why engage in something intangible, incomprehensible? This is how the first layer of the desire for knowledge appeared.

But at the beginning of the 20th century it became clear that science had exhausted itself and by the end of the century many scientists already said that the age of science was coming to an end and there was nowhere else to develop it. And today everyone agrees with this.

That is, there is nothing in the world we could discover that would really be a special breakthrough. There are even theorems about the finiteness of knowledge.

The science of Kabbalah explains that gaining knowledge is a human method and proceeds from our capabilities. We do not explore what the world is. We explore the world as it appears in our senses.

The world is matter given to us in our sensations. So we need to introduce a clear framework: where is the boundary of our attainment? And it turns out that it is very clear, simple, and close. In principle, we already feel it.

In this way, science, which blazed for 150 years, has practically burned out. And therefore, we are now on the threshold of breaking into the spiritual world.

Kabbalah predicted this many thousands of years ago. It clearly saw that at the end of the year 2000, when the realization of all of the ten Sefirot of the third world was completed, a feeling of their end would begin to appear as well as understanding that there should be a breakthrough to the upper area.[239425]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/7/18

Zohar for All, Torah, “BeHaalotcha” 58: Woe unto one who says that the Torah comes to tell literal tales and the uneducated words of such as Esau and Laban. If this is so, even today we can turn the words of an uneducated person into a law, and even nicer than theirs. And if the Torah indicates to mundane matters, even the rulers of the world have among them better things, so let us follow them and turn them into a law in the same way. However, all the words of the Torah have the uppermost meaning.

It is very difficult to explain The Book of Zohar to beginners. This is a completely closed book. Its texts seems to be literary or historical, often frightening, mystical.

When I began to study with Rabash, I was offered to study the article “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” by Baal HaSulam, which is one of the introductions to The Book of Zohar. But the entire method, the technique of spiritual work, is clearly described in it in the language of Kabbalah and not in the language of feelings.

The Book of Zohar cannot be used as a textbook, it can be used only as material for extra classes for people who are seriously studying Kabbalah.

Question: What secrets are hidden in it?

Answer: It is impossible to reveal these secrets to a person because everything will be unclear to him since he does not have a corresponding mind that must put together incomprehensible things.

The fact is that a person currently studying Kabbalah has an ordinary earthly psychology. He must work on himself until the Light begins to change him a little, and in accordance with this he will differently perceive the material being studied.

Question:Then why was The Book of Zohar written?

Answer: So that you have something to study, that you can change, and in the measure of your changes, feel how the world, which used to seem one-sided, is changing, and now you see it as integral.

Then you will perceive it completely differently: complementary, interchangeable, as one common whole. All the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature will be perceived as one system.

But you will live in it. You will be unable to change something without changing everything else.

The Book of Zohar is a commentary on the Torah. In the Torah, absolutely everything concerning the way of a person and of all humanity is registered from the beginning to the end. Only the one who changes in accordance with the ascent on the spiritual steps attains what is written in it.[238844]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/26/18

The Book of Zohar, “Tazrya”: All worlds, the Upper and the lower, are inside man. All that is created in the world is for man’s sake and everything lives and develops because of man.

It seems to the person that he exists among other people, animals, plants, and inanimate nature, including the entire universe. In fact, all these levels of desire are just one desire. It is called “human.”

Everything is within each of us: the egoistic and altruistic worlds, the Creator, and the whole of creation.

The human is the desire created by the Creator, which includes everything.

Our task is to become like the Creator, changing the application of our egoistic properties from receiving to giving.[238055]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/26/18

Question: How do I ask the teacher correctly in order to receive correct answers?

Answer: You cannot because no question deserves an answer and should not be accompanied by it. One must ask everything from oneself or from the Creator.

On some issues you should consult with your friends in order to get the strength to move forward, from the teacher you get instructions, and from the Creator—the power of your development, correction, and movement.

Therefore, the more we study, the fewer answers you will receive from me.

Remark: We often try to ask questions not for ourselves, but for the beginners.

My Comment: I always feel what I have to do. Therefore, if a new student appears instead of you, I will answer him at his level, and you will still receive nothing from it.[238857]From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/13/18

Question: I feel psychologically inferior; it is difficult for me to communicate with people. I intend to study the wisdom of Kabbalah by myself. Will I be able to enter the upper world if the Light suddenly pours onto me, or will it only be worse for me?

Answer: Study, and then the Light will lead you.

Question: If I cannot use the Creator for my own benefit, if I don’t have any benefit from Him, why do I need Him?

Answer: The benefit from the Light is the opportunity to use it for the benefit of all, and through them for the benefit of the Creator— and in this you will see your benefit and realization.[236257]

Answer: In our world there is no system of either negative or positive forces. Both systems affect only the person who is destined to spiritual elevation.

This does not affect the common man. He lives his normal material life and gradually moves toward the time when he will begin to receive the right impact from both sides and develop.[234867]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/17/18

Question:Is it impossible to explain the method of Kabbalah to a person who doesn’t have a point in the heart? He only understands corporeal logic, group psychology, but not higher psychology.

Answer: Kabbalah does not deal with explanations because it initially works at a level where there are neither human thoughts nor desires. It makes no sense to explain anything. It is the same as sitting in front of a dog interpreting philosophical canons to it as it wags its tail responding to your affection, and what you say doesn’t matter.

So it is with a Kabbalist. When he tries to convey anything to people, they nod with an approving smile, as if saying: “Keep babbling,” but they don’t delve into anything.

Time passes, and if they keep studying according to the advice of the Kabbalist, then gradually they begin to understand where this is going. They feel various changes in themselves; they begin to feel, according to the terms spoken, some adequate response to higher actions that they had not previously felt. They enter a field where there are completely new definitions, and thus continue moving forward.

But this is not because they absorb everything with their minds, but because they act according to the directive of their teacher.[234874]From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 4/12/18

Question: How can one desire give birth to another? Is there an example in our world?

Answer: The Light gives birth to a desire. We study this in the four phases of direct Light. The Light acts on the original desire and begins to develop it from the still to the vegetative, then to the animate and human, which gives its desire to bestow.

The quality of bestowal, unity, love, helps the desire become diversified and at the same time connected. That is why atoms appear, molecules, and all sorts of chemical compounds that form the vegetative nature, developing under the influence of the sun, photosynthesis, and other phenomena.

Then the animate nature appears in which complex protein and other processes take place. Then, finally, human nature—but this is not even in matter, but higher than matter—the desires and the thoughts of a man are what distinguish him from the animal.[233933]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/13/18

Rabash, “Love of Friends – 2”: Thus, we must also use faith to have confidence that we can reach the goal and not despair mid-way and flee the campaign. Rather, we should believe that the Creator can help even a low and ignoble person like myself. It means that the Creator will bring me near Him and I will be able to attain adhesion with Him.

Reaching the goal is not easy. But the fact is that we were given a group, an environment to help us. It is necessary to create such an environment in advance, which can support you in times of descent. If you create it, you guarantee in advance that your descent will be very special, soft, understandable, and there will be a glimmer of Light within this descent.

Answer: Faith in the sages is a state when I have already grasped how much they understand the situation and therefore I am ready to follow them like a little child. Despite the fact that I do not understand what they are talking about, but they claim that this is what needs to be done, and so I do it.

My faith in them is based on the fact that I comprehend their sublimity. I submit to the upper, as a lower one. Therefore, faith is the feeling of the greatness of the upper Partzuf, the upper state, the upper soul.

This feeling comes when I earn it. I need to work hard for this.

Question: Is it not that someone said something and I believe it?

Answer: No. Such an approach will not save me. The person begins to believe either in a state of despair when he has no other option or when he has gone through all the scrutinies and is convinced that this is so.

Question: But then what is the difference between religion and Kabbalah?

Answer: Religion says: “You have to close your eyes and believe in what you are told.” And Kabbalah says: “A person has nothing more than what his eyes see.”[234670]From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 3/22/18

Hebrew is much more suitable for expressing the science of Kabbalah than any other language. It has a greater supply of suitable words that more accurately express an inner feeling. After all, the Hebrew language grew out of the science of Kabbalah. This science, its approach, the aspiration toward the Creator, created and formed the language.

Therefore, Hebrew contains all the symbols to clarify the Creator. The form of the letters, the way they are written, the grammar, everything is adapted only for the purpose of explaining the essence of the desire in which the Creator can be perceived.

There is no other language that can be compared with Hebrew in the expression of Kabbalah. Other languages do not have such properties.[234307]From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/18, Lesson on the Topic “The Wisdom of Kabbalah in the Modern World – The Real Perception of Reality”